Galveston flood

Collected by
Mary Celestia Parler;
Transcribed by
Neil Byer
Mrs. Jim Crymes
DeVall's Bluff, Ark.
July, 1954
Reel 202, Item 1
The Galveston Flood
Come, listen to my story I'm now a-going to tell,
It's of a noted city you all remember well,
'Twas on a southern island where the tide and waves
rolled high,
A fine commercial seaport with beautiful sunny skies.
On the eighth day of September, one awful stormy night,
A storm swept o'er the country with a dreadful power
and might,
It blew the waves all over the city everywhere,
And many a people sink nevermore to appear.
The tide came o'er the island and hit it from our side,
And man a father and mother were drownded t he night
And buried in the ocean beneath the briny deep,
Remained until the angels awaked them from their sleep.
The storm was waging dreadful, the waves were dashing
high,
And many of the people thought they surely must die,
But they couldn't leave the island, for there was no
retreat,
The flood was raging angry, and water in every street.
The storm was drifting northward, and struck a southern
coast
And spread death and destruction on every street and
coast,
It shook the very island on which the city stood,
Reaching from coast to country with a dreadful raging
flood.
Some places in the city the people all were drowned,
And not a trace of some of them evermore be found,
Until the great archangel comes from the other shore
And says in thundering trumpet that time shall come no
more.
Reel 202, Item 1, con't.
It fills my heart with sadness while thinking of that
time,
While many a thousand of people in a fine southern
clime,
Were swept from earth forever and buried in the deep,
And some poor child and mother are left on earth to
weep.
And so for poor Galveston, the storm that laid her low
And many of her people this place will ne'er more know
They've gone from earth forever, their graves are in
the deep,
Where thousands of her people in the ocean waters
sleep.
This fine commercial city, the pride of a great state,
Will evermore remember its sad and awful fate,
When rolling waves were dashing and houses falling
down,
The city (cries?) of many a people were heard through­out
the town.
The story now is finished, I've told you all I know
About the storm of Galveston, where the dreadful winds
did blow,
The dashing of water with the awful overflow
And drowned so many people in the Gulf of Mexico.

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Collected by
Mary Celestia Parler;
Transcribed by
Neil Byer
Mrs. Jim Crymes
DeVall's Bluff, Ark.
July, 1954
Reel 202, Item 1
The Galveston Flood
Come, listen to my story I'm now a-going to tell,
It's of a noted city you all remember well,
'Twas on a southern island where the tide and waves
rolled high,
A fine commercial seaport with beautiful sunny skies.
On the eighth day of September, one awful stormy night,
A storm swept o'er the country with a dreadful power
and might,
It blew the waves all over the city everywhere,
And many a people sink nevermore to appear.
The tide came o'er the island and hit it from our side,
And man a father and mother were drownded t he night
And buried in the ocean beneath the briny deep,
Remained until the angels awaked them from their sleep.
The storm was waging dreadful, the waves were dashing
high,
And many of the people thought they surely must die,
But they couldn't leave the island, for there was no
retreat,
The flood was raging angry, and water in every street.
The storm was drifting northward, and struck a southern
coast
And spread death and destruction on every street and
coast,
It shook the very island on which the city stood,
Reaching from coast to country with a dreadful raging
flood.
Some places in the city the people all were drowned,
And not a trace of some of them evermore be found,
Until the great archangel comes from the other shore
And says in thundering trumpet that time shall come no
more.
Reel 202, Item 1, con't.
It fills my heart with sadness while thinking of that
time,
While many a thousand of people in a fine southern
clime,
Were swept from earth forever and buried in the deep,
And some poor child and mother are left on earth to
weep.
And so for poor Galveston, the storm that laid her low
And many of her people this place will ne'er more know
They've gone from earth forever, their graves are in
the deep,
Where thousands of her people in the ocean waters
sleep.
This fine commercial city, the pride of a great state,
Will evermore remember its sad and awful fate,
When rolling waves were dashing and houses falling
down,
The city (cries?) of many a people were heard through­out
the town.
The story now is finished, I've told you all I know
About the storm of Galveston, where the dreadful winds
did blow,
The dashing of water with the awful overflow
And drowned so many people in the Gulf of Mexico.